Tuesday T: THINK

THINK.

Spread in the tall, skinny journal--

some opinions voiced on

National Public Radio... I often

hear things that inspire me

on their programming.

On the right, a sketch of

Salvadore Dali, from a photo

pinned on Pinterest.

I don't have a photo of 

tea or coffee today, but I am

still linking up with 

Bluebeard and Elizabeth at

Altered Book Lover.

How about we revisit some

coffee or tea-related 

art work instead?

collage in Green Scrappy journal

Bits and Pieces journal

Eco Green Smash journal

Managed to work in at least

one beverage container!

And I was wondering...

would the readers of this blog

like a series of posts

about Halloween-related projects

during the month of October?

I am thinking art and sewing.

Leave a comment and let me know...

Art Journal Thoughts

Saw this quote on Pinterest.

Had to do it up in

my skinny art journal...

very true.

There is no "easy" button

or remote control for life.

Another thought that

I remind myself of...

be persistent and

hang in there!

and Smile!

Halloween is coming!

T is for Tuesday and Tomato

Joining Bluebeard and Elizabeth today

for "T" Tuesday. Visit her at

Altered Book Lover to see

what everyone else is doing

and join in the fun!

Today I'm freezing a few tomatoes...

They are from my parents' garden.

I think these are Big Boys.  But I am not

positive what the type is called. They're

nice and sweet.

I just core them and cut off any bad spots,

then dip them into boiling water so the

skin will peel right off. You can blend

them up to make juice, but I just

cut them in halves or quarters. Pop them into

a quart zip lock freezer bag and they make

wonderful soups over the winter!

Much better flavor than canned...

Today I added cinnamon, cloves,

nutmeg and skim milk to my coffee.

I guess I am craving spicy fall recipes.

Please ignore the snowman on the cup.

I am not craving winter, but I do love

this Debbie Mumm cup!

Here you can see how these

tomatoes often have a deformed shape. They 

also seemed to spoil rapidly. Don't know if

that was our weather conditions, or 

the type of tomato.

The next project in the kitchen

will be applesauce...

Watercolor Art Journal Pages

Watercolor, calligraphy, quotes

and collage in a new art journal.

The pages measure 8 1/2" x 11."

It is larger than many of the

journals I've worked in recently.

The larger size does present

different challenges.  Obviously

there is more space to fill, but I

try to leave a border around

the edge so the finished page

will fit onto my scanner.

A sketch of parts of one of our

cottonwood trees.  The bark is quite

deeply lined with furrows, and has

a bit of light green moss.  The leaves

that I sketched had been damaged

by insects.  The branch silhouettes

are always interesting against the sky.

Iron weed adds a lot of color

to the roadsides...

A spread in the Bits and Pieces journal.

It's now full.  The small size of the pages,

5" x 8", made it seem easier to complete.

The last page, with watercolor leaves,

a tiny collage, and fabric.

What have you finished lately?

Puzzle Piece Mail Art

I received a delightful piece of mail art

recently, from my friend Halle

of  Halle's Hobbies blog.

It was a completely unanticipated

Smile that arrived on a day

when I really needed it!

It's quite large, about 4 inches high

by 5 1/2 inches wide, and was sent

through the mail as is, no envelope.

The back of the mail art shows the

surface of the original puzzle art, which I

assume is a child's floor puzzle.

I love the Aloha stamp!

Halle's captions always make me smile...

how did she know I needed one that day?

Sweet little flowers over text

are joyful additions of color.

Thanks, Halle, for the Smile!

T is for Tuesday and Trees

Joining Elizabeth's

T is for Tuesday link up...

having Peppermint herbal iced tea...

and looking at my skinny practice journal.

'Practice' journal because I was practicing

stitching signatures into book form.

The size (4 1/2" x 8 3/4")

 has been handy to carry with me in

my purse to draw or make notes at odd moments.

Collage and watercolor are added later when

I have a moment with my other art materials.

Drawing while a passenger in the car

can be challenging. Squiggly lines result.

But when drawing tree shapes, it's not

required to have perfectly smooth lines.

Again drawing while in the car,

this time focusing on the clouds...

While waiting to meet a co-worker to 

car pool...drawing the surrounding parking lot

and listening to National Public Radio...

unusual phrases make their way onto

the pages, or get added later.

Trees are a frequent series of images too.

I didn't go to the circus, but spotted the

free coupon and liked its colorful images.

A good prompt for a journal page!

"Cheap sunglasses" by ZZ Top--

another great prompt.  Song lyrics 

often find their way onto my pages.

What are you having with your 

tea today?

Art Journal Pages

Recycled ice cream cone image

from one of my posters used in a 

weight-loss meeting.  Too fun to waste...

The quote is from Pinterest, and it

made me smile.

The 'shading' around the page border

was done with watercolor crayons.

It goes on like a crayon, and then you apply

water to soften the shading. My Sharpie

pen did not want to write on the surface

of the watercolor crayon!

The rose is a sketch on the back of a

restaurant placemat.  I tore around the 

ball point pen image, and then added watercolors.

It's pasted into my green Eco Smash Journal.

This tree logo is from a paper bag.

The store is Aldi's, a discount grocery store.

I really liked the curlicue branches, so

into the Smash Journal it went.

The sketch above is how I would like

my studio/craft room to look! In actuality it's

mostly a pile of plastic storage boxes, baskets

and one bookcase at the moment...

and has to double as a spare bedroom

when my children and grandchildren 

come to stay.

I am a list maker.  It doesn't 

necessarily make me more organized,

but it helps get ideas down so they 

don't disappear...as long as I don't

lose the list, that is!

T is for Tuesday; Q is for Quilt

I've been working on a quilt since last summer...

A gift for the newlyweds, which they'll be lucky to receive

by their first anniversary!

When I'm working on the quilt, I am careful to keep my

coffee cup (or any beverage) far away from the quilt!

The pattern is called Merry-Go-Round,

which I've completely hand-pieced, and

am also hand-quilting.

It has bright happy colors, and includes many fabrics 

from the bride's past:  vintage fabrics from the bride's

great-grandmothers' stashes, fabrics from clothes 

that I sewed for her when she was little, and many

fabrics from the numerous baby quilts I've made.

I set the quilting frame up in my parents' home, as 

they have a bit more room, and it gives me an excuse

to go visit them and quilt! It's been in the frame for

about a month now, and I think I should be able to

get it done by the October anniversary...I hope.

My quilting stitches aren't exactly perfect,
or even tiny, but I tell myself that it's
 part of the 'charm of hand-made.'

I do attempt to keep them uniform in size.

In the block above, the red gingham was a dress that

I made for my daughter when she was in grade school.

A couple of the fabrics are from my maternal grandmother's

scraps, and one is even from a guitar case that I 

made in high school.  Yes, a quilted fabric guitar case.

Weird, I know. But I liked it much better than the

black 'cardboard' ones that you buy.  (I used

pre-quilted fabric on part of that guitar case, wasn't up to

hand-quilting in high school! and no, I don't

 really play guitar any more)

The cable quilting designs are marked in pencil and

then stitched.  The triangle and rectangle shapes are

just 'eyeballed.'  So they aren't always perfect...

It's challenging to get your shoulders, arms and hands

to 'turn' in the right direction to follow the quilting design.

I find I have to pace myself so as not to get sore muscles.

Many quilters have their quilt tops machine-quilted these

days, but I really enjoy hand quilting.  I don't exactly know

how many hours I have in this quilt. At least 500 hours, 

at a guess.  If I kept an accurate track of how long it takes,

I might never make another!

Here's how I have my morning 'mocha' coffee...

to your coffee cup add 1 heaping teaspoon of cocoa powder,

a pinch of salt, a teaspoon of vanilla, sweetener to taste,

(I use any Stevia sweetener)

and a splash of fat-free milk.  Yum!

Visit Bluebeard and Elizabeth at

Altered Book Lover

to see what others are doing on Tuesday!

Perhaps they are having Tea on Tuesday,

instead of coffee, like me...